Uhm. L'epicerie is just down the street from Le Saint Amour. The owner is tres French, they play French music, the cheeses/wine larder is all full of French stuff. They have French rags next to the cafe area, ad nausea.

Don't know how the food is these days, since the chef left, but if you stick to cheeses/foie, you can't really go wrong.

I like Le Epicierie but I don't know if the food is what you're looking for. I'm not sure if any of the waiters speak French either. Take a look at their menu and see for yourself. We used to go to Saint Amour regularly too and I really wouldn't say Le Epicierie is anything similar.

I agree, the food at Le Epicerie is not great and the ambience is not really brasserie either - more like a cafe/small marketplace. MEET is a French bistro a few doors down from Le Saint Amour on the same side of the street which I like better.

There's a cute place in Santa Monica called Madame Chou Chou. Owned by a French couple. One of them is always there. I'm not sure all of the servers speak French, but the owners are always close by....it's a small place. They're very charming. Menu is small...but quite good.